Trump's CFO
Here's a CFO Journal profile of Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of the Trump Organization. He's definitely an old school CFO: a quiet guy who eats tuna sandwiches, predicted his future occupation — "an accountant" — in his high school yearbook and "fits in with the wallpaper," which I believe is the highest compliment an accountant in the Trump Organization can receive.
Then there's this anecdote:
At a business meeting last year, Mr. Trump reflexively solicited his CFO for his opinion.
“Isn’t that right, Allen?” Mr. Trump asked.
“One thousand percent,” Mr. Weisselberg responded.
I just rolled my eyes so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. Sounds like he'll make an extraordinary yes man in the Trump White Gold House.
In any case, Weisselberg is the also treasurer of the Trump Foundation so he can probably explain why the non-profit spent more than $250k settling lawsuits for Trump's for-profit businesses and uses donors' money to purchase portraits of DJT. The Journal report states that he's likely to be on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's witness list for his investigation of the Trump Foundation.
New RSM partners
This happened last month, so forgive me for being a little tardy in bringing you the news:
RSM US LLP (“RSM”) – the nation’s leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market – recently announced the promotion of 59 employees to partner and principal roles, effective Oct. 1.
“We are proud to welcome our new class of partners and principals,” said Joe Adams, managing partner and CEO of RSM US LLP. “These individuals exemplify what it means to be a first-choice advisor. We are excited to see the significant contributions that each of these leaders will make to the success of our clients, our people and our firm as they advance in their careers.
For those scoring at home, this is the first partner class since the firm rebranded last year, so I guess that's something? Last year, RSM was still McGladrey and promoted 56 to partner and in 2014 RSM was still McGladrey and promoted 40.
IRS phone scams
As you may have heard, since the big bust in Mumbai last month, the flood of phony IRS phone calls has slowed to trickle:
[T]he Better Business Bureau said it has seen a "huge drop" in reports of IRS scam calls since authorities raided the calls centers. Between the beginning of the year and Oct. 19, the Better Business Bureau of New Jersey received 117 reports of the tax collector scam. Since Oct. 20, the BBB has received zero reports, said Melissa Companick, president and chief executive officer of the BBB of New Jersey. Nationally, BBB received about 29 reports per day on average, but after the raid, it received just 28 calls total, a drop of 92 percent.
You have to wonder who's been making the calls since the big bust? Is there some renegade leftover from the original scam center who's simply that committed to his job? Or is it some scrappy IRS phone scam startup that just waiting for their big break? If it's the latter, they'll probably raise $100 million in VC money by the end of the month.
Has Donald Trump released his tax returns?
Nope! Oddly, they didn't even warrant a mention in the Weisselberg profile, but I'm sure he'd agree "one thousand percent" that they shouldn't be released until the IRS audit is finished.
Previously, on Going Concern…
Megan Lewczyk crunched some numbers on the Cubs. And in Open Items, someone wants to know how to handle a mistake after receiving an offer from a Big 4 firm.
In other news:
- Janet Reno, First Woman to Serve as U.S. Attorney General, Dies at 78
- How Wells Fargo’s Problems Flourished in Arizona
- From the Accountant/Celebrity beef beat: Accountant to Jaime Pressly Take My Damn Money Already … And Leave Me Alone!!!
- SEC Names Marc A. Panucci as Deputy Chief Accountant
- Cubs World Series celebration ranks as 7th largest gathering in human history
Get the Accounting News Roundup in your inbox every weekday by signing up here.
